It was a realisation crystal clear watching Harry Grant cut the Dragons to ribbons from the couch, coke zero in hand, on Sunday. Shame about the result, but the Storm in full flight is a sight to behold.

Little wonder the Storm have locked Grant down long-term, even at the possible cost of losing Cameron Munster. It's a price many have questioned, but it poses another question: are the No. 9s the most under-valued players in our game?

Given most judges, good and bad, readily acknowledge how crucial the dummy-half is to their team's success, the simple answer would be no.

However, a closer look reveals the assertion is not without merit.

Take rugby league's most esteemed club, The Immortals, theoretically the best 13 players to have played our game... not one hooker.

Remarkable right? There's fullbacks, centres, back-rowers, locks, halves, a prop, but not a single hooker.

Of course that's temporary. Cameron Smith, the best of the lot, will join the moment he's eligible, but that's not for a while yet.

In today's game, few people question the importance of the dummy-half as part of the 'spine'. Still, on the money ladder, they remain the poor cousins.

The hooker as a genuine marquee player, at least on a team's salary cap, doesn't exist. It's typically the No. 7s and No. 1s who command that coin, with varying degrees of merit.

When a club's struggling, all-to-often the attempted solution is to go out and throw the kitchen sink at a half or five-eighth, failing that a No. 1. It's why there's no shortage of halves or fullbacks getting paid big overs.

Now even elite middle forwards, certainly their managers, are demanding 'marquee' money.

Jason Taumalolo was the first, while there's talk that the Broncos will need to make Payne Haas the first million-dollar a season prop to keep him at Red Hill.

Recent history is littered with inflated deals for front-rowers that have brought poor returns.

You have to look much harder to find a dummy-half overpaid in that fashion, if you can find one at all. For all their material value, a hooker being the highest paid player at a club is remarkably rare.

As people suggest when it comes to Haas, players on that type of money need to directly influence or 'own' the result.

It's easy to think that's the halves, or to a slightly lesser degree the fullbacks, who kick the field goals or score the tries at the end.

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It's true players that consistently produce those moments are a rare and valuable commodity, but as far as influencing the result, the No. 9 has as big a say as any.

As far as consistent winning, Smith is the most influential player of them all. No one has been a better winner, there's been no better big-game player, no one has had a bigger say on more consequential results.

He had fine players around him, future Immortals even, but unless you subscribe to the belief he's the luckiest passenger in any sport ever, he's been the one driving the bus; the common denominator.

We're not about to see another Cameron Smith any time soon (if ever), but it speaks to the level of influence the hooker can have on a team's fortunes.

While the Tigers have been in the doldrums for a decade, Grant at hooker has been the only truly transformative addition, albeit fleetingly and without finals footy.

A look at the current ladder speaks to the impact. Grant is flying high with the Storm, like Api Koroisau is for Penrith and Reed Mahoney the Eels. Blayke Brailey's on the up at Cronulla.

They're all playing for teams with quality halves, but so are the teams thereabouts but off the pace.

The Roosters still have Luke Keary and James Tedesco, but have lost Jake Friend. Between Sam Verrills and utility options Drew Hutchison and Connor Watson, Trent Robinson's still searching for the right formula at dummy-half.

Likewise at Manly, Lachlan Croker is industrious but not really a difference-maker. The Broncos are in the eight on Adam Reynolds' back but haven't locked in a nine.

In the toughest arenas, Ben Hunt has been most influential from dummy-half. It won't happen under Anthony Griffin at the Dragons, but that's another conversation.

You can find similar scenarios down the ladder. The common denominator for the teams firing on all cylinders is the dummy-half. For teams 10-16, the issues at dummy-half are glaring. Take a look for yourself.

It's worth noting, especially for the clubs going back to the recruitment drawing board and looking for a new foundational chip.

Instead of going all in on the No. 7-1 quinella in the last, some would do well to try throwing the kitchen sink at a No. 9 instead.

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